quinoa

Wanna know what a #HIFD is? Can Amanda keep her success streak going for the third week in a row? Check out the latest episode of Swashbuckled! to find out! (unless your name is Carin Sharin, then just turn it off right now!)

Read on for episode breakdown

Ingredients in this week’s episode:

Cilantro $1.19

Pineapple $2.99

Bacon Jerkey $5.49

Wild Blueberry Muffins $3.99

I went into this week feeling extra confident, with two successful weeks under my belt, I thought I would be able to keep the streak going forever! But Marie SWASHBUCKLED me with her ingredients this week. Most notably, the Wild Blueberry Muffins (which were delicious on their own).

Speaking of delicious, that Sweet Sriracha Uncured Bacon Jerky was a little piece of heaven on earth, so do yourself a favor and pick some of that up, stat!

So with all those yummy standalone ingredients, why didn’t the dish work?

Well, for one thing, the texture was funky. The idea of carbs on carbs on carbs was a bust. The quinoa made the casserole extra mushy, and the blueberry muffins didn’t crisp up, taking the mush to the next level. The spice in the jerky didn’t carry through as expected either, so more flavor and spice needed to be infused into the dish.

Below is the recipe…but, do yourself a favor and don’t make it! Instead, if you are interested in trying this out, make some changes and see what you can do to improve this Highly Instagrammable Fail Dish (#HIFD).

Directions

First off – Don’t make this meal the same way I did, unless you really want to not be satisfied with the final product. If you insist, proceed to step two.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Heat Olive Oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Once oil is hot, add in butternut squash, chayote, and tomatoes. Cook for about 5-7 minutes, then add pineapple, salt, garlic and shrimp. Cook for about 3-5 minutes, then add broth and cooked quinoa and cook down (*or don’t add those and see how it goes. That is what i would have done differently). Transfer mixture to a baking dish.

In a separate dish, combine crumbled blueberry muffins (but…why??), bacon jerky and oat bran. Top on baking dish and bake in oven for about 20 minutes, until top is brown. **But, if you want to make this dish even better, swap out the blueberry muffins for cornbread, and add some shredded mozzarella cheese in there. Omit the quinoa altogether and use just a little bit of chicken broth…

Steak has always been one of my favorite foods. I’m not going to say that it is because it is the perfect vessel to chow down on A1 Sauce, but I am also not, not going to say that too. I am always so intrigued by steak toppings, and always am eager to try them, so I can compare them to my beloved A1 Sauce. You can imagine how excited I was to see the brand new product on the shelves of Trader Joe’s.

Another reason I love steak, is that the internal cooking temperatures aren’t as strict as they are with chicken (which I undoubtedly will overcook every time in fear of Campylobacter jejuni). You can eat a rare steak with little food safety risk. I didn’t follow any particular recipe for preparing the steak, just liberally rubbed the Coffee & Garlic BBQ Rub all over each side of the steaks and grilled them until they were medium rare.

As for the side dish, I can’t think of a one I love more than rice pilaf, with its earthy, mushroomy flavors. I decided to try to make my own version with quinoa and truffle oil. If you thought rice pilaf couldn’t get more delicious, you have to try this!

Directions:
Cook quinoa in rice cooker with veggie broth. Meanwhile, add butter and olive oil to a pan over medium heat. Once it is hot, add diced onions and cook until tender, about 4 minutes. Then add mushrooms, garlic and kale and continue to cook, about 4 more minutes. Once all the veggies are cooked through, add the cooked quinoa, additional Tbsp of butter, truffle oil and salt and pepper and turn on low until ready to serve.

As for the vegetable side (because I firmly believe that dinner is not complete without vegetables. It is just my thing), I chose Broccolini, just stir fried with a bit of salt and pepper (in the grinder). I like my veggies with a bit of a crunch, so this doesn’t take very long at all.

** FARMER’S MARKET SPOTLIGHT**

There are very few items that Trader Joe’s does not carry, and I have to look elsewhere for them. One of my all-time-favorite ingredients is White Truffle Oil. One of my favorite brands is “Bristro Blends” which is a vendor at several local farmer’s markets. I also have tried their Meyer Lemon Olive Oil and Heirloom Balsamic Vinegar, both of which are staples in my kitchen. They are pricey (and I am very cheap, so this is saying A LOT), but are worth every penny.

My dietitian friend of mine, we’ll just call her Rachael, has been having stomach issues for the past two years. After going to several doctors, her final diagnosis was IBS, which is usually the “we can’t find anything definitively wrong with you, so we’ll call it IBS so you stop showing up in our office.” Usually the treatment for IBS includes having a balanced diet, exercise and stress management. She did a bit of research on the Low FODMAP diet and after trying it for a few days, her symptoms finally went away and she felt “normal” again.

Since IBS is a very (very) common complaint and diagnosis, we gave the LowFODMAP diet a test run in my house a few months back. I found it very difficult to prepare meals for, because everything I use in almost all of my dishes were on the “no-no” list: ONIONS, GARLIC, WHEAT, LACTOSE, and many forms of FRUCTOSE (many fruits as well as high fructose corn syrup). For those suffering from abdominal distress and pain, making a few slight dietary changes though doesn’t seem to be an issue.

One of my standard meals I make on an almost weekly basis is quiche. It is my “clean out the fridge” meal that is packed with veggies and I always have the standard ingredients. I also can whip up a crust in less than 5 minutes in my kitchen aid (Using this recipe from William’s Sonoma, but omitting the sugar). Quiche also happens to have an abundance of onions, garlic, wheat and lactose in it (well, mine does any way). I decided to attempt to make a pie crust out of quinoa, since wheat and wheat flour was not allowed.
And to my dismay, it actually turned out pretty good! I was surprised by how much I liked it.

Since I was doing things completely out of the box, I went all out and added some bacon, and used half hard boiled eggs and half raw eggs in the mix (normal quiche recipes don’t use hard boiled eggs)…and it turned out just fine!

Quinoa Crust Quiche

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine ingredients well and mash along the bottom and up the sides of a 9″ pie pan. Bake for about 10 minutes. Leave the oven on, you’ll be using it again real soon.

QUICHE:

3 strips of bacon, crumbled and cooked

2 slices of swiss cheese, crumbled

1/2 big ole’ zucchini, shredded with a grater

2 cups baby spinach

2 tomatoes (enough to cover the top of the pie)

1 oz goat cheese

6 eggs

1/2 cup milk (because of the FODMAPS diet, I used Lactaid)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Pinch of red pepper flakes

Directions:

On top of the baked crust, add bacon and swiss cheese. Cook the zucchini, basil and baby spinach for a few minutes in a pan (I used the same pan that I cooked the bacon in, just drained some of the bacon fat). Add cooked zucchini, basil and spinach to the pie. Mix together eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and red pepper. Pour over the bacon, swiss cheese, zucchini, basil and spinach. Top with tomatoes and goat cheese. Pop it in the oven for 35-40 minutes, or until the quiche has set.

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Disclaimers:

The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.